You Got Prime, They Got Your Data (Fix It Faster Than Next Day Delivery)

A short guide to some of Amazon's top privacy concerns

You’ve got to hand it to Amazon—they’ve built one of the most frictionless digital ecosystems on the planet.

You can order batteries, stream a movie, refill a prescription, and schedule a grocery delivery without ever leaving the app.

And by tomorrow afternoon, it’s at your door. Like magic.

That convenience is real. So is the value of Prime.
It saves time. It works. It’s addictive.

But here’s what most user probably never ask:
What’s Amazon really getting in return?

Because you’re not just paying with your card.
You’re paying with:

• Your clicks.

• Your searches.

• Your voice.

• Your habits across every device you own.

And while you’re tracking a package, Amazon’s tracking you.

That’s the trade most people never see—until the ads feel too accurate, the recommendations get weird, and your data ends up training systems you didn’t think you agreed to help build.

This weekend, we’re fixing that.

Below are three fast, high-impact privacy tweaks you can make inside your Amazon account—in less time than it takes for your next package to show up.

But before we do that…

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1. Clear Your Browsing History (Then Kill It for Good)

Amazon tracks everything you look at—even if you don’t click, buy, or save it. Your browsing history feeds your recommendations, your ads, and your behavioral profile. The longer you let it run, the more dialed-in that data becomes.

For some, this may seem like a convenient feature that’s tailored just for you. I get it and if you want to keep this tracking you then by all means just skip this.

How to fix it (on desktop):

1. Go to Amazon.com

2. Look for “Browsing History” at the top-right of the homepage (under the search bar or in the “Accounts & Lists” dropdown)

3. Click settings button (looks like the little gear icon)

4. Hit “Remove items”

5. Click “More settings” in that same window and toggle “Turn Browsing History on/off” to Off

Mobile user? Open Amazon in a browser (not the app) and scroll to the bottom of the homepage. Look for “Browsing History” there then follow the same process.

Why I suggest this:
This isn’t about hiding weird searches or anything like that. This cuts off a major pipeline Amazon uses to predict what you’ll want next—and steer your behavior accordingly.

Less visibility = less influence.

At some point you might questions which choices are yours, or the algorithm’s.

This subtle influence is common on other popular apps like TikTok as well.

Not only does the algorithm track what you spend time watching it will also try to influence you by showing content slightly outside your normal watching habits. Again, at what point do you stop controlling what you see and the machine takes over. Food for thought.

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2. Turn Off Interest-Based Ads and Cross-Device Activity Tracking

Amazon builds a behavioral profile using everything it sees across devices where you're logged in—Fire TV, Echo, Kindle, mobile, and browser. This includes your browsing habits, voice commands, watch history, and purchase behavior.

Then it ties all that data together to:

• Show you “relevant” ads

• Personalize what products you see

• Feed partner ad networks

Step 1: Kill Personalized Ads

1. Go to Your Advertising Preferences

2. Select “Do not show me interest-based ads provided by Amazon” and hit Submit

3. Under “Delete your personal information from our ad systems” select “Delete ad data”

Step 2: Limit Device Data Usage

1. Go to Manage Your Content and Devices

2. Click the “Privacy Settings” tab

3. Click “Manage Settings” under Amazon Devices Privacy

4. For each connected device select it, and toggle off anything associated with location, device usage, and ads

5. Repeat step 4 with all connected devices

Bonus step: While you’re in “Manage Your Content and Devices” go to the Preferences tab. In this tab there are a few settings I suggest to adjust.

• Disable Simple Sign-in

• Turn off Syncing

• Delete Saved Network Passwords (although Amazon says they are saved in encrypted servers, better to be safe than sorry)

• Disable Amazon Sidewalk (This setting stops Amazon from auto-connecting your devices to wi-fi networks and is mostly applicable for Ring and Echo users)

This fix shuts down one of the biggest cross-device surveillance tools Amazon runs: personalized ads based on combined behavior across your entire Amazon-connected world.

Turning this off doesn’t make you invisible—but it does limit how precisely Amazon can follow your digital trail and that counts for something.

Do you use Echo or any other Amazon devices? Let me know your experience in the comments.

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3. Purge Your Saved Addresses and Payment Methods

Amazon stores your entire purchase history, indefinitely. That includes:

• Every item you’ve ever bought (yes, even from 2011)

• Every address you've ever shipped to

• Every payment method—even expired ones

• Gift recipients, digital downloads, and archived orders

It’s a goldmine of behavioral and location data, and Amazon doesn’t auto-delete any of it.

Remove Old Addresses

1. Go to Your Account > Your Addresses

2. Scroll through and delete anything outdated—old homes, hotels, friends’ places, etc.

Remove Expired/Unused Payment Methods

1. Go to Your Account > Payment Options

2. Remove old cards and accounts that no longer need to be linked

3. Click “edit” on each card you want to remove

4. Click “Remove From Wallet”

Manage Login with Amazon

1. Go to Your Account > Manage your data

2. Click “Manage apps & services with data access”

3. Remove any apps from the list that don’t need access

This isn’t just cleanup.

You’re reducing exposure.

Old addresses, old purchases, and unused cards can leak in breaches, get scraped by sellers, or be used to train Amazon’s internal behavioral models.

Every item you delete is one less data point Amazon can use to predict—or manipulate—your next move.

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Bonus: Your Ring Camera Might Be Sharing More Than You Think

If you’ve got a Ring doorbell or security cam, you’ve probably set it up for peace of mind. Honestly, today you can’t be too safe especially if you have a family.

But you might be giving up more visibility than you intended—not just to Amazon, but to law enforcement and neighbors.

Check this out:

• Ring used to allow police departments to directly request footage from users (no warrant needed). That feature was retired but Ring still allows public safety agencies to post requests in the Neighbors app.

• If you don’t actively opt out, you may still get video request notifications or have your footage shared more widely than you realize.

• And per Ring’s own policy, your footage can still be turned over without your permission in emergencies or legal requests.

How to Lock It Down

1. Open your Ring app

2. Tap the menu and go to Control Center

3. Look for “Neighbors” or “Public Safety Agency Requests”

4. Toggle OFF anything related to:

   • Receiving video requests

   • Sharing to Neighbors

   • Public agency alerts

(If you don’t see these options, check under Privacy Settings or Notification Preferences—Ring moves things around depending on your device and app version.)

You don’t need to ditch your doorbell. But you should know who has access to what—and take steps to keep your footage private unless you choose otherwise.

Security should protect your home.

It shouldn’t quietly feed another company’s surveillance network.

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Feeling Exposed? You’re Not Alone—And Amazon’s Just the Beginning.

We just walked through how Amazon quietly holds on to your search history, old addresses, saved payment methods, and behavior across every device you own.

And that’s one platform.

Now think about:

• The email accounts you stopped using but never deleted

• The apps you installed once and forgot about

• The sites still holding onto your personal info from that one-time purchase you made in 2016

• The smart home devices silently syncing with your phone, calendar, and habits

This isn’t just about Amazon.
It’s about the invisible data leaks happening across your entire digital life.

If that hit a nerve, good—because now’s the moment to do something about it.

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• Find what data is floating around that you don’t know about

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• Build a privacy system that actually sticks—even if you’re busy

It’s not a lecture.
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You’ve already seen how bad it gets when companies like Amazon hold onto your data forever.

Now imagine how much calmer your online life could feel when you’re the one in control.

Let’s clean this up for real.

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I Want to Hear From You

What’s the oldest, weirdest, or most random thing Amazon still remembers about you?

An address you don’t live at?
A product you forgot you ever searched for?
A creepy recommendation that was a little too accurate?

Drop it in the comments—I guarantee you’re not the only one.

And if this post opened your eyes to how deep the tracking goes, restack it.
Someone you know is still clicking “Buy Now” with a digital trail going back a decade.

Let’s help them fix that before the next 2-day delivery lands.

Until next time…

Stay Informed. Stay Secure. Stay Curious.